Uniformed Navy chaplain prays 'in Jesus' name'

Uniformed Navy chaplain prays 'in Jesus' name'
Act of faithfulness defines career as service ejects Christian
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In front of witnesses and God, a man who fought the whole of the U.S. Navy over his constitutional right to pray "in Jesus' name" while in uniform has done just that, delivering a benediction at a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington a short time after Vice President Dick Cheney had left the room.

Former U.S. Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt told WND it was an act to define the close – for now – of his 16-year military career.

He said he had been on the schedule of the CPAC event to deliver the invocation, but when an appeals court just days ago cleared the way for the Navy to dismiss him, his supervisor told him the Navy had contacted the conference and asked that he be "disinvited."

Multiple WND calls to CPAC asking for a comment were not returned.

"When the vice president was speaking I stood outside the room, and I waited until the event was over. … Then after everybody left, I decided that my last act as a Navy chaplain should be to pray in my uniform in Jesus' name," he said.

"So I went and put on my uniform, since I was technically in the Navy until midnight, and at 11:30 p.m. I took the stage at the CPAC conference and I said the benediction to the banquet."

"I prayed in Jesus' name in front of an empty room," he told WND, with his wife and manager as witnesses.

He said those he met at the conference were cordial and gracious, in fact sympathetic. "I met several old friends who have helped me with my cause. Just about everybody in the room knew who I was, knew about my cause to pray in Jesus' name."

He had been ordered dismissed by midnight on Thursday, and moved out of military housing in order to prepare for that. But he said he will continue his personal battle, even though the overall victory already is his, since Congress has ordered the removal of the restrictions under which he was punished.

"I'm going to continue my lawsuit against the Navy as a civilian, but will fight to be reinstated," Klingenschmitt told WND. "I will continue to fight for all chaplains' rights to pray according to their conscience, but will do so outside of the Navy instead of inside."

Klingenschmitt said the battle was worth it, and he would do it all over again. "We did change national policy. We rescinded the policy that I was punished for," he said.

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